fidean.net

good morning! what a weekend. we are finally over the flu it seems, although all still feeling a bit worn out from it all. yesterday we had a restorative meal of quail eggs and goats milk. after watching pbs’ ‘colonial house’ while we were sick, ella had asked to try goats milk. she’s also been asking for months about the beautiful blue and brown speckled quail eggs at the coop. so, we got some of each and had a fun little snack.

this morning i did my first 5k race of 2005…and it sucked! i was hoping to finish with a better time than my very first 5k (the human race, march 2004 - finished in about 37 mins - slllloooow), and best case scenario, finish around the time of my last 5k of last year (which was a trail run, around 30 mins - not my best, but not bad either). my time this morning was around 33 or 34, although the official nbrs aren’t posted yet. so, no speedy feet for me today - and while running i was miserable! remind me never to do a 5k after having the flu (or after my kids have had the flu and i’ve been up 4 nights in a row). amazing that a 5k could be more painful than a 1/2 marathon. anyway, it was still fun in a sick sort of way. it was probably about 10 degrees when the race started w/ sub zero wind chill. humbling to be passed by the elite 10k runners on their 3rd lap as i was finishing up. the top male finisher finished the 10k just a few minutes after i finished the 5k. wow.

ella did a 1/4 mile race which was fun (apart from the wind). ella and i now have matching shirts and knit hats. she also has another race number to add to her board as well as a certificate. she also really liked running with ‘running bear’, the mascot of the frigid 5 (a guy in a polar bear suit and hula skirt). ella wore her fish hat and the race photographer took her picture several times, so hopefully those will be posted online soon. we didn’t bring our own camera, although it would have been too cold to hang around outside much anyway. the girls and bill stayed in the coliseum (the race was on the state fair grounds) to keep warm while i ran. ella was VERY ready to go home by the time i finished up. anyway, fun fun fun, but we’re glad this one is over!

We’re finally getting a little snow today - it’s been the least-snowiest winter in Minnesota since the dawn of time. Or at least the dawn of meteorological record-keeping. If figures, of course, we get out of a week with highs below zero right in to balmy mid-20s and snow. Maybe we can at least go sledding now.

Or, we could if we were healthy. Autumn got it first, friday, pretty much better by Monday. Then i got it monday afternoon, mostly better today (thursday), though staying home this afternoon. Yesterday Ella got it, sleeping a lot and still in the bad aches and fever today. It’s a bad one too - no stomach stuff, but just miserable flu. We’re hoping for a recovering in time for a decent weekend.

As Autumn mentioned before, i’m hoping to do more biking this year, and we’re hoping to replace many local car trips with biking trips. The new cargo trailer will help with that, with plenty of space for our usual grocery trips and farm produce pickups. Now all we need is for spring to come along, or at least some relatively dry roads, and i can get back on the bike commuting wagon. Getting over the flu will help too

well, we haven’t posted an update in quite a while. here it is, january 17th, and we have yet to add anything new since thanksgiving! life has slowed down now that the holidays are over. plus, i have a cold, so it gives me an excuse to sit at the computer and post movies, pictures, and updates!

the girls really enjoyed the christmas holiday. ella was very curious about santa this year, and had a good time meeting him. we went to downtown daytons (aka marshall fields) and saw the snow white exhibit (non-disney) and met santa afterwards. fiona wasn’t so sure about the whole thing. we have some pictures of that trip, but i don’t think we ever posted any of them. oh well. one more thing for the to do list. we did put christmas pictures up the day of, but there are finally some movies up:

there are also some other new movies, including ella’s first film ’selawenta’s glass of milk’. an interview with the director (ella), a film of fiona making a big noise, and one of ella and fi playing with glurch (if you don’t know what it is, watch the film and find out!). all the films can be found at http://www.fidean.net/flix/.

after the holidays, we spent quite a bit of time simplifying, reorganizing, and purging. we took multiple loads of stuff to goodwill, sold some books and cds, recycled an amazing amount of paper and cardboard, and filled up the garbage can several weeks in a row (something we rarely do!). we also added some new shelving to the basement. hopefully, we’ll be able to get it organized enough that we can create a new play space for the girls down there. (for pictures of some of this project: http://www.fidean.net/pix/jan05/jan05.html).

bill and i have both been spending a lot of time tinkering with the bikes, now that the weather isn’t as conducive to riding (did i REALLY ride year round for years and years? seems like another lifetime). put some aero bars and a new saddle on my new road bike, mustache bars on bill’s commuter, and finally stripped down the mirage to get it ready for its reincarnation as a silvery little single speed (fi helped quite a bit with this last one).

we’ve also been busy redoing the play area upstairs for the girls. bill has built two play stands for the girls to use as a kitchen, a house, a puppet stage, a fort, you name it. bill is also going to build a wooden canopy for the two stands, over which we will drape the silk rainbow i just dyed last night. we’re just waiting to build the canopy until we decide if we want the play stands a hair shorter (they are 4 feet wide now, which seems a bit too big).

i also just dyed a big batch of play scarves. most of them are for gifts for play mates who have birthdays in the next couple months (you know who you are, and now you know what you’re getting!). ella and fi picked out a few from the pile to add to their own collection. dying is becoming an exciting new hobby. i’m hoping to learn some more about batik and do some of that as well. when the girls are old enough, they will be able to help and create their own works of art. for now, they’re just having fun playing with them.

we’ve started home schooling with ella and her friend, summer. today ella is over at summer’s house for lessons, and friday, summer will come over here. wednesdays we’ll be doing field trips (childrens’ museum, science museum, art museums, parks, etc.), going to story time at the library (when available), or doing special activities at home as a group (which also gives fiona and samuel a chance to play!). we’ve found a couple of curriculums that we’re happy with (christopherus and oak meadow). we’re keeping our eyes and minds open to see if this works well for ella (and us). so far, so good. she’s having a great time and is learning a lot.

upcoming events…ella and i will both be running this weekend. i’ll be doing the frigid 5, and ella the 1/4 mile. next month i’m doing my first indoor triathlon at the university of minnesota. bill and i are thinking of doing at least one race as a team this year (i would swim and run, he would bike, the lucky dog!). my brothers andrew and peter are also thinking of doing a race this year. we’re also hoping to get in some longer bike rides, a bike/camping trip, and maybe a longer backpacking trip with the girls.

we’re also committed to parking the car and biking as much as possible, once the weather improves. we just ordered a burley flatbed bike trailer from twin ports cyclery (the shop i used to work at in duluth) to help with the grocery runs. we need the extra hauling capacity since the burley d’lite is near the weight limit just with the two girls and the diaper bag. hopefully bill can bike most of the work week and the girls and i can meet him for picnic lunches as the weather permits. bill can write more about this though…

happy new year everyone!